Dubai: The UAE based easy financing portal Tabby has secured a further $58 million, for its Series C funding round, and tapping the likes of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Capital, Sequoia Capital India and PayPal Ventures.
It values the company at $660 million. Tabby raised $150 million as a credit facility in its last funding round in August from Atalaya Capital Management and Partners for Growth (PFG). It has raised $333 million in equity and debt since its launch in 2019.
The fundraise will be used to expand Tabby’s product line into new areas of consumer financial services and support expanded operations. This round makes ‘Tabby one of the most valuable startups in MENA and the first in the GCC to receive funding from PayPal Ventures’, the company said in a statement.
Tabby has been one of the pioneers in creating and expanding the BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) method to help consumers make purchases at retailers, offline and online. The BNPL way picked up speed during the aftermath of the Covid times, when consumers had turned cautious on all non-essential spending.
Apart from UAE, where BNPL transactions are available across a wide swath of categories, consumers in Saudi Arabia too have been quick to find uses conducting their shopping this way. Here, they pay off the cost of the transaction in 4-6 installments at 0 per cent interest.
Another big year for BNPL?
"With rising interest rates and growing inflation, it has never been more important for people to have access to payment flexibility to stay in control of their finances,” said Hosam Arab, CEO and co-founder of Tabby.
"Credit penetration in the MENA region is significantly lower than in other developed markets. From a credit risk perspective, consumers are not overstretched as they don’t have two or three credit cards. So, from a demand perspective, there’s a real gap and opportunity that we are filling."
Despite downward pressure on fintech valuations, our business continues to sustainably scale as we lead the generational shift towards fair and transparent financial products in MENA.
“We’re excited to grow with an incredible set of investors who believe in the opportunity to create a healthier relationship with money for consumers in a region that’s ripe for change.”
The company has issued over 150,000 Tabby Cards six months after launching its cards program with in-store sales now making up over 10 per cent of the volumes.
